Manufacturer:Marklin

Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH is a very old name in toy trains and model railroading. Marklin was founded in Germany in 1859, originally as a maker of doll house accessories, but they did begin manufacturing toy trains soon after.

Märklin is responsible for the creation of several popular model railroad gauges or scales. See Model Railroad Scales for more.

In 1891, Märklin defined gauges 1-5. They soon became international standards. Märklin followed with O gauge (by some accounts as early as 1895 or as late as 1901), H0 scale in 1935, and the diminutive Z scale, 1:220, in 1972 — smallest in the world for decades — under the name Mini-Club (the scale of Z was assigned after the product line was introduced). Mini-Club was invented as Märklin's answer to Arnold Rapido's introduction of N gauge. (No relation to Rapido Trains Inc.)

Marklin Command Control Systems

Over the years Marklin has been a leader in digital control systems, developing and marketing a number of full featured command control systems based on digital technology.

Marklin Digital

Märklin Digital appeared in 1979, an early digital command control system, built around Motorola parts. A later command control system was also rebranded as Märklin Digital.

Märklin first demonstrated their new digital control system at the Nürnberg Toy Fair in 1979. After further work by a third party under contract, the system was officially introduced in 1985, with most components built by Märklin. Later, Marklin contracted Bernd Lenz for additional locomotive decoders and.

The Märklin Digital system offered simultaneous control of up to 80 locomotives and 256 accessories. 14 speed steps, and an accessory function which could be used for headlights or TELEX remote uncoupling.[3]

Digital logic components of that time were expensive and the system used Trinary logic for cost reduction. Early decoders could cost as the locomotives and the expense of upgrading to Marklin Digital was considerable.

Marklin Digital = (Two Rail) and Marklin Digital~ (Three Rail)

Märklin Digital= is a command control system developed jointly with Lenz GmbH and Arnold GmbH for their Direct Current products. Digital~ is for their Alternating Current product lines. See DCC History for more information. The Digital~ also employs the Motorola Trinary format for signalling.

DELTA

A simplified and cost reduced starter system intended for beginners and value oriented modellers, DELTA allowed control of up to four locomotives simultaneously. DELTA decoders initially lacked any way of easily changing the address. It also lacked the ability to control turnouts or other accessories. It was marketed for small to medium sized layouts.

The DELTA product has been discontinued.

Märklin Digital (mfx)

In 2004 a new Märklin digital control system was revealed. A new two way protocol allows for control of up 65,000 devices, locomotives can have up to 128 speed steps and 16 functions. Developed and manufactured by ESU for Märklin, later the brand Märklin System was replaced by Märklin Digital.

In 2013, the extended mfx+ digital system provided additional decoder features and also allows feedback with mfx+ equipped locomotives. The virtual fuel state of each mfx+ equipped locomotive can be set and monitored. For steam, boiler pressure and fire state can also be set, monitored, and controlled. Eventually, the locomotive must take fuel and water, as would the prototype